More than 2,000 university students, lecturers, and researchers across Bangladesh have faced systematic political persecution, violent mob expulsions, and state-backed prosecution since August 2024.
A comprehensive dossier released by Paris-based human rights watchdog JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF) verified 2,051 individual victims across 229 higher education institutions over a 26-month span ending October 2026. The crackdowns targeted individuals over alleged ties to the Bangladesh Awami League, its student wing the Bangladesh Chhatra League, or their actual or perceived sexual orientation. Campuses became hunting grounds. Of the documented victims, students accounted for 1,569 cases—76.5 percent of the total—while 482 teachers and senior academics absorbed the remaining blows.
Summary expulsions tore through student dormitories within days of the regime shift. The report documented 575 students subjected to informal academic exclusion that blocked them from classes, while another 219 were forcibly evicted from campus residential halls and hostels. Mob violence followed close behind. Unidentified assailants and organised mobs assaulted at least 576 students, often while campus administrators looked away.
Broader tracking data indicates police arrested more than 100 students directly in connection with sitting their examinations, while unverified field estimates suggest police detained over 10,000 students and alumni affiliated with the Awami League during nationwide sweeps.
| Documented Impact Category | Students Affected | Teachers & Academics Affected | Total Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Assaults / Mob Attacks | 576 | 86 | 662 |
| Academic Exclusion / Professional Boycotts | 575 | 132 | 707 |
| Criminal Cases & Prosecutions | 100+ | 121 | 221+ |
| Hostels Evictions / Institutional Dismissals | 219 | 24 | 243 |
| Internal Inquiries & Investigations | — | 107 |
Senior university faculty faced coordinated purges from lecture halls and administrative posts. JMBF documented 132 teachers hit with academic boycotts and professional bans, 121 subjected to criminal prosecution, and 107 dragged before internal inquiry panels. Physical brutality was not reserved for students alone. Attackers assaulted 86 teachers on campus grounds, while university administrations summarily dismissed 24 academics. Investigators also recorded instances of institutional blackmail and coercive interrogation directed at individuals based on their sexual orientation.
Universities must be centres of knowledge, freedom and critical thinking—not places of political revenge, intimidation and discrimination. No student should lose the right to education because of political identity, and no teacher should lose their livelihood for holding a different political opinion.
Advocate Shahanur Islam, Founder President, JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France
Political affiliation does not constitute legal misconduct. JMBF stressed that any formal disciplinary proceedings require credible judicial evidence, clear administrative warrants, and unhindered legal defence rather than kangaroo-court expulsions pushed by political rivals.
JMBF has petitioned the Bangladesh government, university chancellors, and law enforcement agencies to guarantee unconditional campus and examination access for all barred students. The rights group demanded the immediate creation of independent judicial review panels to overturn arbitrary campus suspensions, expulsions, and faculty dismissals before the next academic term begins.
| 107 |
| Total Verified Victims | 1,569 | 482 | 2,051 |